As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. 44 They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
As Jesus draws near to Jerusalem, he sees the city and begins to weep. Luke rarely shows Jesus in tears, so this moment draws attention to the depth of his sorrow. He is approaching the city that holds the temple, the center of Israel’s worship, yet he knows that many within it will reject the peace he offers.
When Jesus says, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace,” he is speaking about more than the absence of war. In the Scriptures, peace means a right relationship with God that brings wholeness, security, and blessing. Earlier in Luke, the angels announced “peace on earth” at Jesus’ birth, and the crowd cried out “peace in heaven” as he entered the city. Now, as he looks at Jerusalem, that promised peace stands before them in his own person, but most do not recognize it. Because of their hardness of heart and their limited expectations of a political Messiah, this peace is now “hidden” from their eyes.
esus then speaks of coming days when enemies will surround the city, build a palisade, encircle it, and hem it in on every side. His words describe the method of a full siege, cutting off escape and supplies. The image is severe: the city will be smashed to the ground, and even the children within it will suffer. The prophecy, however, is not presented as a cold prediction but as something Jesus announces through sorrow and tears. The destruction is real, yet it is announced by one who loves and cherishes the city and its people. Luke’s readers would have known that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans a few decades after Jesus’ ministry.
The final reason Jesus gives is decisive: “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” In the Old Testament, God’s “visitation” could mean a gracious intervention to save, or a coming in judgment when his people refused to listen. In Luke’s Gospel, visitation has already been described as God coming to redeem his people and to look kindly on them. Jesus now declares that this gracious time has arrived in his own ministry. God himself has come near in the person of his Son, teaching, healing, and offering mercy. Yet Jerusalem, especially its leaders, does not recognize that this is the decisive moment to turn to God by receiving his Messiah.
This passage brings together two threads found throughout the Scriptures: God’s persistent offer of peace. and the real consequences when that offer is rejected. The prophets had warned Jerusalem in earlier generations, and now the Son stands before the city with the same call, but in a deeper and more final way. Luke shows that the judgment on Jerusalem is not a victory of anger over mercy; it is the tragic result of rejecting the very One who came to bring true peace. Divine justice here is not the same as mere retribution, but the solemn unveiling of what follows when God’s gracious visitation is persistently refused.
Lord Jesus, you drew near to Jerusalem and wept over those who did not recognize your coming. Grant that we may never be blind to the peace you offer, but receive you with faith and trust in every circumstance of life. Amen.
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Sources and References:
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Bernard Orchard et al., A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Luke (Four Courts/Scepter).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018).
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990).
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